Growing up and Moving in
by bandtogetherandfight
Summary: A St. Berry Thanksgiving story. Sequel to Que Sera Sera and All that Jazz. Read that one first!


Happy Thanksgiving! This is a direct sequel to **Que Sera Sera and All that Jazz**, which also takes place on Thanksgiving. Start with that one, or this one might not make 100% sense.

I.

Rachel busts through the door, overladen with bags and making a racket, but it's Hiram who makes amends, shutting the door quietly behind them and mouthing apologies to Jesse who is sitting up on the sofa bed glaring daggers at his girlfriend as she putters around their apartment's tiny kitchen.

"Rachel," Jesse starts to argue exhaustedly, "The point of a holiday is to…" but a more-chipper-than-usual Rachel cuts him off.

"Don't you dare start on me," Rachel says in a tone that they all know means business. "It's Thanksgiving day, dinner is at 5, and I haven't even started cooking. The market opened at 7am and I had to get there first thing to make sure that all the good sweet potatoes weren't taken. You can't even pretend to be the slightest bit surprised. You know who it is you're dating, right?"

He can't say she doesn't have a point, and the smirk (his smirk) that she shoots him as he heads into the bathroom and slams the door tells him that he might as well give in.

Hiram, a quiet but captivated spectator, chuckles as he unpacks the grocery bags. "You should go easy on all of us, darling. It's been a crazy year, and we could all use a little R & R. You and Jesse have both been busy with rehearsals and press for your shows, and your father just finished a huge case. It might not be a bad idea to tone it down a notch this year."

"But I want this Thanksgiving to be perfect," Rachel whines. "I feel like we haven't had a traditional family Thanksgiving in ages."

"Well," Hiram says pointedly, "If someone hadn't been so intent on using the excuses of work, school and studying to avoid Lima, a certain ex-boyfriend, and his well-meaning but draining family instead of facing up to the fact that what she was actually avoiding was the status of her relationship, then maybe we wouldn't have missed out on so much."

"Touché," Rachel admits softly, peeling potatoes to distract them both from the admission that she was wrong. "It took a while, but I got there. I broke up with Finn and made a fresh start this year with Jesse. This is our first set of holidays together, and I want them to be perfect. Is that so wrong?"

"No," Hiram laughs, "Not if Jesse manages to survive you in your holiday mode."

"I'm pretty sure he can handle it," Rachel says, smiling at her daddy. "I've taught him well."

"You guys already have so much to be thankful for," Hiram reminds her. "You graduated college this year, Jesse got nominated for a Tony for Sweeney, and after spending months fretting about being able to make the transition from school to working again, you landed this part in all of 2 weeks. You guys moved in together and are talking about buying a bigger place…"

"Do you think we're moving too fast?" Rachel interrupts. "We've only been dating since January, and I'm still only 25, but…"

"I think you're happy," Hiram cuts her off, reaching over and planting a kiss on her forehead. "And your father and I are thrilled for you. Just promise me that you won't lose happy in the search for perfection, okay?"

"Promise," Rachel echoes. "Now get to work!"

Just as Hiram is being given orders on how to make the stuffing, Leroy exits the bedroom, Kindle in hand, and faces his family. "What is with all the noise and slamming doors this early in the morning?" he demands good-naturedly, pulling up a stool to the small breakfast bar and rifling through the still to be unpacked bags.

"Rachel is initiating Jesse into Berry holiday traditions." Hiram stage-whispers to his husband, throwing in a wink that Rachel can't see from her position at the stove. "Poor guy."

II.

After everything has been cooked and eaten and washed and put away, Rachel and Jesse are curled up on the sofa bed, talking softly to each other so as not to wake Hiram and Leroy who are sleeping in the bedroom, despite the fact that it's barely 10.

"I never knew that eating and drinking and talking could be so exhausting," Jesse confesses, groaning as he makes to shift positions in bed. "And I'm so stuffed. I'm never eating again."

"You just wait," Rachel promises. "This was only Thanksgiving. Next there's my birthday, Chanukah, then Christmas and New Year's. Only then will our first holiday season together be complete."

"This wasn't our first Thanksgiving together," he reminds her. "I have _very_ fond memories of last year and how you seduced me."

"I did not seduce you," she declares as adamantly as she can in a hushed whisper.

"The red wine you used to _seduce_ me ruined the couch," Jesse reminisces, "But you have to agree that this one is infinitely more comfortable."

"You booked your first Broadway show," Rachel perseveres, "I was _congratulating_ you."

"By kissing me and then dragging me to your bedroom to have your way with me? Everyone else sent flowers."

"I don't recall you complaining," Rachel teases.

"And, _then_," Jesse continues cheekily, too invested to stop now, "You tried to trap me with a baby by having unprotected sex with me. I would call that a seduction."

"Do you ever think about that?" Rachel wonders aloud, abandoning their faux game of blame. "If I had gotten pregnant, we would have had a two or three month old baby right now."

"Sometimes," Jesse confesses, "but everything turned out for the best. We're both working now, and, with the hours we keep, that would be an impossible situation."

"We could have made it work," Rachel professes vehemently. "Think of how gorgeous and insanely talented our kid would be."

"Sounds like someone thinks about this a lot," Jesse prompts playfully.

Rachel shoves at his shoulder under the covers. "Well," she says, slightly embarrassed. "What do you think about?"

"Hmmm," he teases, shifting positions so that he can look down at her. He makes sue to drag out his words and reap all the benefit from her captivation. "I think about how I'm going to propose to you. Obviously, I would have asked your dads' permission, and I would have taken them ring shopping since you are _so_ particular and they know you best. I think I'm going to be a bag of nerves when I do it, but I'm just going to look into your eyes and tell you that I've been in love with you since I was 17 years old, and all I think about every minute of every day is that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Rachel swallows. "That would be really hard to say no to."

In the dark, Jesse maneuvers the ring onto her finger.

"Then don't say no."

* * *

_**I hope to have the last chapter of Charades up this weekend!** _


End file.
